Boston South Station

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Boston South Station
SouthStation.agr.JPG
Data
Design Terminus
Platform tracks 13 (7 platforms)
abbreviation BOS
opening 1899/1985
Website URL Homepage
Architectural data
Architectural style Revolutionary architecture
architect Shepley, Rutan, & Coolidge; Norcross bros.
location
City / municipality Boston
State Massachusetts
Country United States
Coordinates 42 ° 21 ′ 7 ″  N , 71 ° 3 ′ 19 ″  W Coordinates: 42 ° 21 ′ 7 ″  N , 71 ° 3 ′ 19 ″  W
List of train stations in the United States
i16 i16 i18

The train station Boston South Station (distributed only South Station called) is located at Dewey Square of the roads at the crossing Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street in Boston in the state of Massachusetts of the United States . Directly after Logan International Airport, it is the second largest transport hub in New England and also the largest train and bus station in the entire Greater Boston metropolitan area . The station complex also includes a subway station of the same name owned by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority with a connection to the Red Line subway and the Silver Line bus rapid transit line .

history

$ 1000 bond from Boston Terminal Company dated February 1, 1897

Consolidation of several terminal stations

At the time of its construction, each of the railways in Boston stopped at its own terminus . The four stations that served the railway lines to the south were

The Boston Terminal Company was founded in 1897 to combine these four terminus stations into one building . This concept of integrating multiple rail companies into a single station building is known as Union Station , and many stations in North America also bear this name explicitly.

  • The Boston Railroad and Atlantic Avenue Elevated

  • Situation before the construction of South Station on a map from 1880

  • The Atlantic Avenue Elevated in front of the South Station , view from the early 1900s

  • View in north direction at the merging of the two routes (1904)

Early development

The never-used tracks on the lowest level

The South Station opened on January 1, 1899 under the name South Central Station . The construction of the new station had cost 3.6 million US dollars , which in 2011 was equivalent to between $ 86.3 million and $ 2.79 billion - depending on the calculation. The Boston architecture firm Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge was responsible for the construction, with Westinghouse, Church, Kerr & Co taking over the construction work .

Atlantic Avenue Elevated stopped at the station from 1901 to 1938 , and in 1913 the route of the predecessor of today's Red Line was extended from Park Street Station to South Station . The station's engine shed , which was originally one of the largest in the world, was demolished in 1930 due to corrosion damage caused by the salty sea air .

During the Second World War , the station was used by 125,000 passengers daily, but rail traffic declined significantly after the end of the war. In 1959 the Old Colony Railroad , which had served the Cape Cod and South Shore regions , ceased operations, followed by the bankruptcy of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad in 1961 . The station building was sold to the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) in 1965 , which had it partially demolished to make way for the Boston South Postal Annex and the Stone and Webster building.

Originally, an underground level with a double-track loop was planned, which was built but never put into service. Instead, a parking garage and a bowling alley for employees of the station were set up there in later years .

Renovations

View inside the building (December 2010)

In 1978 the station building, which had meanwhile been recorded on February 13, 1975 under the number 75000299 in the National Register of Historic Places , was sold to the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority . However, the BRA retained the rights to the airspace over the station. The new owner provided short term funding of $ 195 million for extensive renovations that were completed in 1989. Since then, a total of 13 tracks have been available, all of which have raised platforms for barrier-free access and some are long enough for trains with 12 wagons. Piers were installed to support an office building to be built later and a bus station above the tracks. The bus station opened late in October 1995 and replaced the previously used terminal on the roof of the Dewey Square Tunnel diagonally across from South Station . In 1985, the platforms of the Red Line were extended to serve trains with 6 wagons. Another renovation followed in 2005 as part of phase 2 of the Silver Line project in conjunction with the construction work on Big Dig .

Passenger numbers

At the time of its construction at the end of the 19th century, the South Station had very high passenger numbers due to its central importance for commuters. However, massive cuts in the New Haven Railroad , which later became insolvent, led, in conjunction with the ever increasing importance of the automobile, to a considerable decline in passenger numbers.

In the recent past, more passengers have been counted, which is attributed, among other things, to the reopening of the train lines of the Old Colony Railroad and the electrification of the Northeast Corridor and the associated commissioning of the Acela Express .

Area Passengers per year
1975 1990 2001
Long-distance rail 537,000 839,000 1,060,000
Commuter trains 2,774,000 12,000,000 18,000,000
Long-distance bus transport / / 3,000,000

Railway systems

Track, signal and security systems

The station has 13 tracks, which are connected via 7 platforms .

building

The entire station building is barrier-free . Several elevators are available for access to the subway. The station is open 24 hours a day, every day of the year.

Inside the building there is a work of the Museum of Science , which depicts the planet Jupiter , as well as a sculpture consisting of old couplings as art in public space .

architecture

The Boston Terminal Company commemorative plaque identifies all people and companies involved in the construction of the station.

The above-ground building of Boston South Station and its wings were built in the style of revolutionary architecture. In particular, the geometric symmetry of the building and the stone facade clearly indicate this style. The granite required was extracted from nearby quarries in New England . The main entrance is in a section that protrudes from the convex contour of the building. The entrance doors are covered by high arches that give an impression of grandeur, but at the same time make the building appear smaller from a distance. This optical trick, typical of the architectural style, is further emphasized by the oversized windows and sweeping balustrades on the third floor and on the roof.

Above the entrances there are classic columns in an ionic order , which visually support the frieze and the gable . What is unusual for columns in an ionic order is the lack of fluting , which normally draws attention upwards and thus further enhances the splendor of the facade. The large number of elevations and depressions on the facade contribute to the first-class quality of the building and at the same time generate interesting light and shadow gradients outside and inside the building. The roof over the tracks is decorated with a coffered ceiling.

Constructed over 100 years ago on top of the main building, the clock is the largest hand-wound clock still in operation in New England . It was built on the model of London's Big Ben and has a dial with a diameter of 12  ft (3.7  m ). The weight of the movement is more than 180 kg. In 2008 the watch underwent a six-week restoration and repair, during which the movement was completely dismantled and transported to a nearby workshop, where necessary spare parts had to be made by hand. The watch is a hallmark of a bygone era that reminds visitors of it and which commuters still rely on every day. The eagle perched on her weighs more than eight tons and is 8 ft (2.4 m) tall. He imitates the figures that are often found on buildings of this architectural style.

The curved contour of the building clearly sets it apart from the surrounding structures and thus ensures significantly greater visibility. In addition, the area of ​​the main entrance on Atlantic Avenue and Summer Street and on Dewey Square could be optimally designed. An analogous concept can also be found in the Church of Santa Maria della Pace in Rome . Although it did not directly influence the design of the South Station , the designs have the same effects on the immediate surroundings of the buildings.

In the 1980s, with the help of federal funds, a large-scale revitalization of the building, which was in poor condition at the time, began. This included, among other things, the construction of two wings of the building, which for optical reasons were built from the same granite as the main building. The construction work was completed in 1989. A short time later, construction of new office buildings began in the neighborhood, which further expanded the city center. With the completion of the Big Dig and the Rose Kennedy Greenway , the station's importance as a transportation hub increased even further. The grass verge provides pedestrians with easy access between South Station and North Station .

Metro station of the MBTA

The metro station South Station (also South Station Under ) is located at the train station South Station , providing access to the metro line Red Line of the MBTA and the Bus Rapid Transit system of the Silver Line .

The underground station has two tracks, each of which is accessible via a side platform . There are also three additional bus platforms available for the Silver Line buses . The station was opened for the Red Line on December 3, 1916, and the connection to the Silver Line was added on December 17, 2004. On an average working day , 22,632 passengers use the subway station.

Previous station MBTA Next station
Downtown Crossing
towards Alewife 		Red Line Broadway
towards Ashmont / Braintree
final destination Silver Line
SL 1 		Courthouse
towards Logan International Airport
final destination Silver Line
SL 2 		Courthouse
towards the Design Center
Tufts Medical Center
towards Dudley Square 		Silver Line
SL 4 		final destination

Bus station of the MBTA

The South Station Bus Terminal

The MBTA's South Station Bus Terminal, which was built in the 1990s and is connected to the station, was built above the platforms along Atlantic Avenue and is the largest Boston hub for long-distance bus connections from various operating companies, including the MBTA itself. The area covered includes all of New England , New York City , the Mid-Atlantic Coast and Montreal in Canada . The five-story building can be entered via Platform 1 of the station or via entrances on Atlantic Avenue .

Analogous to the history of the origin of the train station, the new bus station represented a single point of contact for a large number of bus companies that previously operated a large number of their own terminals all over Boston. The abandoned predecessor buildings include the former bus station on Dewey Square , the Greyhound Lines terminal in the Back Bay district and several smaller bus stations in Chinatown .

Connection connections

Since many lines of the MBTA Commuter Rail and the Downeaster to Maine depart from Boston North Station, about 1.25  mi (2  km ) away, and there is no direct rail link between the two stations, travelers must either walk or walk along the Rose Kennedy Greenway use public transport. For example, the Red Line can be taken one station in the direction of Alewife . At the Downtown Crossing station there is a change to either the Orange Line in the direction of Oak Grove or the Green Line C with terminus Boston North Station . Fitchburg Line passengers can also take the Red Line to Porter , where they can transfer directly to the Commuter Rail train.

The South Station is located at the northern end of the Northeast Corridor of Amtrak and is therefore, among other things, the terminus of the Acela Express and trains of the Northeast Regional . Amtrak also offers daily connections to Albany , New York and Chicago , Illinois , with Lake Shore Limited .

The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) uses the station as the terminus for the western and southern Commuter Rail routes, as a stop on the Red Line subway line, and as the terminus for several branches of the Silver Line .

environment

In the vicinity of the train station are

outlook

The South Station to rush hour on the afternoon of February 11, 2013 after the Blizzard Nemo

As a result of improvements in rail and other public transport systems, the number of passengers using South Station will continue to increase in the future as it is a central hub. The existing stations of the Red Line and Silver Line still have sufficient reserves, but the platforms of the MBTA Commuter Rail and Amtrak are already reaching their capacity limits.

There are therefore considerations to relocate the building of the Boston General Mail adjoining the railroad station tracks to a new location so that an expansion of the South Station becomes possible. A total of seven new tracks could be installed in this way, which would then be available to both the commuter lines and the Amtrak.

In October 2010, the state of Massachusetts received $ 32.5 million in funding from the US federal government to begin planning its expansion. After extensive deliberation, a $ 43 million contract (of which $ 10.5 million from federal funds) was signed in 2012.

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ^ South Station. (No longer available online.) Project for Public Spaces, archived from the original on June 24, 2013 ; accessed on March 11, 2013 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.pps.org
  2. ^ Measuring Worth. Retrieved March 12, 2013 .
  3. ↑ Razing Rail Depot tests skill of Engineers . In: Popular Mechanics . No. 39 , December 1930, p. 958 ff . ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  4. ^ Boston - South Station, MA (BOS). The Great American Stations, accessed March 12, 2013 .
  5. ^ South Station. (No longer available online.) In: southstation.org. Archived from the original on July 17, 2012 ; accessed on March 12, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.southstation.org
  6. ↑ entry South Station Head House National Register Information System . National Park Service , accessed May 13, 2017
  7. ↑ PATRICK-MURRAY ADMINISTRATION, MAYOR MENINO LAUNCH SILVER LINE DIRECT CONNECT SERVICE TO SOUTH STATION. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority , October 13, 2009; accessed March 13, 2013 .
  8. ↑ Alexander French, William Fowler: The Renovation of Boston's South Station. (PDF; 1.4 MB) Massachusetts Institute of Technology , May 19, 2003, accessed March 15, 2013 .
  9. ^ Ridership and Service Statistics. (PDF; 6.2 MB) Thirteenth Edition 2010. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority , 2010, accessed on March 15, 2013 .
  10. ^ Casey Ross, Noah Bierman: State wants postal land. A push to save rail expansion; funds for deal in question. In: The Boston Globe . January 8, 2010, accessed March 15, 2013 .
  11. ↑ Associated Press : Mass. receives funds to upgrade South Station. In: The Boston Globe . October 25, 2010, accessed March 15, 2013 .
  12. ↑ Martin Finucane: State wins $ 32.5M grant to plan South Station expansion. In: The Boston Globe . October 25, 2010, accessed March 15, 2013 .
  13. ^ Matt Rocheleau: State to soon launch $ 43m planning effort for project to expand South Station. In: The Boston Globe . August 20, 2012, accessed March 15, 2013 .

literature

Web links

Commons : South Station  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files
Previous station MBTA Next station
Back Bay
towards Worcester Union Station 		MBTA Commuter Rail
Framingham / Worcester Line 		final destination
Back Bay
towards Needham Heights 		MBTA Commuter Rail
Needham Line 		final destination
Back Bay
towards Forge Park / 495
Occasional Foxboro 		MBTA Commuter Rail
Franklin Line 		final destination
Back Bay
towards Wickford Junction 		MBTA Commuter Rail
Providence / Stoughton Line 		final destination
Uphams Corner
towards Readville 		MBTA Commuter Rail
Fairmount Line 		final destination
final destination CapeFLYER JFK / UMass
direction Hyannis
final destination MBTA Commuter Rail
Greenbush Line 		JFK / UMass
towards Greenbush
final destination MBTA Commuter Rail
Middleborough / Lakeville Line 		JFK / UMass
towards Middleborough / Lakeville
final destination MBTA Commuter Rail
Plymouth / Kingston Line 		JFK / UMass
towards Plymouth / Kingston